Author: AI Research Unit
Publication Date: April 2026
Domain: Software Engineering, Digital Marketplaces, Plugin Management
Extension stores (e.g., Chrome Web Store, VS Code Marketplace, Jenkins Plugin Index) face common challenges: security vulnerabilities, dependency hell, version conflicts, and discoverability. ExtensionStore v3.1 addresses these through a modular backend redesign and stricter client-side policies.
This paper documents the technical specifications of v3.1, focusing on: extensionstore v3.1
Extensions must declare a capability profile:
"sandbox":
"filesystem": "read-only",
"network": ["https://api.example.com"],
"process": false,
"dom_access": "restricted"
From v3.0 to v3.1:
Backward compatibility: Extensions built for v3.0 run unmodified, but lose granular network whitelisting and storage isolation unless re-submitted.
“The analytics dashboard is finally useful – retention curves helped me fix a first-run crash.”
– Maria G., extension dev Author: AI Research Unit Publication Date: April 2026
“Enterprise Gateway saved us from the ‘update broke everything’ nightmare.”
– IT lead, finance company
“Still no Safari support, but the sandbox improvements make me less worried about malicious forks.”
– Power user Extension stores (e
Net Promoter Score (devs): +62
Net Promoter Score (end users): +48